Melting Sweet Potatoes with Maple-Pecan Sauce

Hey friends! I’m re-sharing this Melting Sweet Potato recipe, because we’re getting close to Thanksgiving! If you’ve made these before, you know how good they are. If not, (welcome from Pinterest), pull up a chair and get ready to eat the best damn sweet potatoes you’ve ever had. And don’t miss the new video below with step-by-step instructions!

The business of making a starch melt in your mouth is actually quite simple. The only technique required is roasting in the oven with butter. A long time ago, we stopped drizzling things with melted butter before roasting in the oven. Also a long time ago, oven fries died.

I’m not sure when oil became the only acceptable thing with which to roast, but its heyday has come and gone in my kitchen.

I love neutral oils as much as the next chick, but golden brown and crispy, it does not make my starches. I’m back to the butter. Also back: my fat jeans.

That said, the first time I made these melting sweet potatoes, 4 smoke alarms were going off in my house on two different levels. Yikes. The classic melting potato recipe calls for cranking the oven to 500 and cooking in a glass pan.

But with the fire department on its way, a sleeping babe woken from a nap, and two barking dogs, I cursed that recipe with all I have.

It took me a few weeks to get over the incident and try again. Not to mention I’d wasted 3 pounds of the first of the season’s local sweet potatoes. They were like little lumps in the coal in the trash can, and it bothered me deeply.

When I finally tried again, I lowered the oven, grabbed my trusty roasting pan (why a roasting pan wouldn’t be used for roasting is escaping me), and I set to work.

The results were so good, I made them 3 times in one week. The texture of the sweet potatoes indeed is like velvet. Exactly as it should be. I love these melting sweet potatoes so much. We’ve eaten them every which-way possible: as a side dish at dinner, on top of Buddha bowls for lunch, and with fried eggs for breakfast. Yes, they are that good.

And we haven’t even talked about the sauce. I made a wet pecan sauce to top them for your Thanksgiving festivities. It’s entirely optional, but when you see that it only has 2 ingredients and comes together in 7 minutes, you won’t be one to opt out.

Step-by-step:

First, peel and chop your sweet potatoes into 1″ round disks. For Thanksgiving, I would use slightly less than one pound of sweet potatoes per person. As a side dish to a meal, I would plan on one pound per person.

Spread the disks on a roasting pan, making sure they are not touching. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter per pound of sweet potatoes, and drizzle it on top.

Toss the slices together with the butter (while wearing a shirt that has two different color sleeves, apparently. Sorry, I did not take this photo.)

Spread them back out in an even layer, not touching. If you’re making the wet pecan sauce, add a small sprinkle of salt. If not, add 1/4 teaspoon of salt per pound.

After roasting for 20 minutes at 425, flip each melting sweet potato disk over. They will be nice and golden brown on the first side. It will be hard to resist eating one, but just you wait–they’re going to get even better.

After 20 minutes roasting on the other side, they look like this. Which is glorious, in case you couldn’t tell.

Hi, melting sweet potatoes. I love you so.

I kinda sorta forgot to take photos of the wet pecan sauce, but it’s very simple. Gather your 1/4 cup of chopped pecans and 1/4 cup of maple syrup per pound of sweet potatoes. Bring the maple syrup to a boil in a small pan. Add the chopped pecans. Bring it back to a boil, then cook for 1 minute, and you’re done!

You can use all of the sauce for the melting sweet potatoes, but I think the recipe makes a bit much. (I didn’t want you to be lacking on the big day). If you have leftovers, drizzle it on anything your little heart desires. Like, oatmeal. Ice cream. Toast. The palm of your hand (let it cool first, my love).

The pecans do get softer and softer the longer they sit in the maple syrup, so try to use it up in 2 days.

Drizzle it over the melting sweet potato disks, and serve with a smile.

This is exactly why I have not used up my sweet potatoes sitting in my counter basket...for this goldmine of a recipe! I mean. How can you go wrong with butter and sweet potatoes? You bet your bottom dollar I am making these ASAP.

Oh my word! How divine are these sweet potatoes? Oh let me count the ways. First lets start with that crispy outer edge. . .then lets talk about that smooth, velvety treasure hidden deep within. Lastly that over-the-top dreamy maple pecan sauce. It's all enough to send me over the edge. Who needs Turkey on Thanksgiving when you can have this star?

I am constantly searching for a way to enjoy sweet potatoes, which I just can't come around to loving. This looks absolutely perfect! My question - any ideas on how to prep this ahead of time? Perhaps roasting on one side and finishing later that day or the next day? Or is it just necessary to do it all right before eating? Thanks!!

I am planning on making this awesome recipe tomorrow, as we are having an early thanksgiving dinner.
I have 2 challenges about it, hopefully you can give me a quick answer.
We don't eat anything dairy, meaning i cant use butter, will it still work with margarine.. ?
Also, i would have to use a toaster oven for it... wish me luck,
Thanks! Looking forward to your answer!
Happy Turkey!

Hi Rachel! I haven't tried it with margarine, so I can't say. I imagine it would be fine, but keep an eye on it. Margarine lacks the same type of fat as butter, so I don't know that your sweet potato rounds will get as golden brown. It should work fine in a toaster oven, though it may take a few minutes longer. When you pierce the sweet potatoes and the insides are like velvet, they're done! Good luck :) Christina

Wondering if the toaster oven worked? I'm planning on making these in toaster oven for thanksgiving this year since I don't have oven space for them! I'm worried about the high heat for a long time, the butter spatter, and not having an appropriate dish to cook them in!? Did it work out well and look just as dreamy as the pics?

Made this last night. Super easy and quick to prepare, and then it’s all about waiting for it to come out of the oven... The smell of the sweet potatoes baking in the butter is intoxicating. The maple-pecan sauce is an awesome touch! Amazing both as a side dish, and as a desert ;)

Hello! I hope you're having a good week. Your sweet potato recipe looked so tasty that I’ve linked to it my latest post on BuzzFeed. I'm still waiting to see if it will be promoted, so it would be great if you could stop by and upvote it, and also share it on your social media! Here’s the link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/annemariewalker/16-amazingly-delicious-sweet-potato-sides-you-need-20ib5 I loved the recipe and I hope share more of your posts in the future. Have great day! :)

I made these the other day for dinner and they were AMAZING. With the syrup, I thought I was taking a bite of dessert when I took a bite of the sweet potatoes. Would recommend to anyone! This is the first recipe I have made from your site and it was great!

I have to say, a sweet potato has never look so delicious like this to me. This is totally eyes catching. I am going to turn off my computer and go to supermartket now, just to buy some sweet patato and try this recipe out! Definitely amazing.

Made these last night as a trial run before Thanksgiving. They are super-yummy! The cooking time was too long for my oven so they were a bit darker/burnt than they should have been and they were still good! I love sweet potatoes; so glad to have another method to enjoy them!

I made this yesterday for our Thanksgiving. I bought almost 7 pounds of potatoes for a meal of 10 (there were still leftovers, turns out 7 pounds of potatoes is a lot). It took two full baking sheets. I used 2 cups of maple syrup and about 3/4 cup of pecans that I toasted myself. The syrup concoction was DELICIOUS. I could eat it with a spoon. The potatoes however didn't turn out that well. My boyfriend was in charge of them while I was finishing the stuffing and while he had the directions and I went over them with him (as anal as I am), the potatoes didn't turn out...he melted the butter and dipped each potato slice in it instead of pouring the melted butter over them and tossing. He also lined the baking sheet with foil...I'm not sure what happened, but they never caramelized. But bless his heart, at least he tried. I tried to make them today by pouring the butter over and tossing the potatoes in it as directed, not lining the baking sheet with foil, and they got a little too crispy... But at least they got some caramelization on them. Overall, a really tasty dish. I'll keep trying to perfect them over this holiday season.

I made these for Thanksgiving the other day and my husband who is not a sweet potato lover declared these the best part of the whole meal! I think we've found a new go-to holiday treat! Thank you so much!

Just did a dry run of this recipe to make sure it was good enough for Thanksgiving Day! I get tired of reading a thousand reviews, then having whatever it is not even be edible! Well, this was NOT the case with these little yummies! Such an easy recipe to whip up, and so very tasty! I will most definitely be adding this to the menu for our family dinner. I didn't want to make one of those marshmallow covered "dessert" concoctions. We'll save the sweets for dessert. Thanks for sharing!

Gave it a try. My potatoes did not crisp up, but they looked yummy none-the-less. Have to take to a dinner party. I poured a little maple syrup over each disk. I plan to reheat them in an oven and add pecan pieces to each after heating. 🤞

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